Don't Follow, Walk Beside Me
by Melodic Frequency
Summary: Palex... set High Fidelity 1 and 2... It's almost halfway through summer, Paige and Marco are leaving for Banting. What about Alex? Who knows...
1. Chapter 1 prt 1

My first Degrassi fic and my first fic on this site. 

A/N: This set after HF Part 2.

Pairing: Palex… some Darco.

Disclaimer: I don't own Degrassi or some of the characters from it.

Chapter One (Part One)

Lugging a box of her hygiene products outside, Paige Michalchuck narrowed her eyes at the sight of her brother and her best friend Marco as the two fooled around on the hood of her Explorer. "Um, I'm really glad you two got back together and I have been since two months ago when it happened, but get over the second honeymoon faze and help me load up, 'kay?"

Marco pulled away from his boyfriend's lips and smiled sheepishly, "Sorry, Paige. We got carried away." The dark haired teen got to his feet and walked over to the girl and took the box from her. "How much more stuff do you have left?"

The blonde shrugged, "About four more boxes."

"Three," stated Alex, coming from the Michalchuck's house with a box marked 'dress clothes' in her arms. She passed her two friends and placed the cardboard carrier into the SUV. "Can we go to The Dot after this? I'm starved and a little bit tired from hauling both of your guys' things all morning." She leaned up against the vehicle and looked pointedly at Paige and Marco.

"Hey, you volunteered to help out." Paige gestured to the boy next to her, "And Marco had like, a gazillion boxes. I made a lot of sacrifices and only packed nine."

"Please," scoffed the aforementioned teen.

"It's true, honey." Dylan shrugged apologetically, "Paige had to give up some of her shoes to have room in the car for the two of you. For her, that's like really selfless."

Alex chuckled, "Yep."

"Shut up," pouted the blonde as she walked over to her ex and smacked her in the shoulder.

The raven haired girl rolled her eyes, "Why did I deserve that? Your brother said it."

"Yeah, but you agreed."

Dylan hopped off from the hood of the Ford and headed inside. "Come on, let's get back to work. The faster we get this done, the sooner we can relax and go to The Dot because I'm starving, too."

And so, that's what the group did.

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"What's up, you guys?" greeted Spinner from behind the counter of the diner.

Closing the door behind Alex, Paige, and Marco, Dylan excused himself to the restroom.

"Just got finished moving out stuff and into the car for tomorrow," answered Paige. She sat on one of the stools and grabbed a menu, Alex and Marco doing the same.

The waiter grinned, "Must be excited as 'Harvard of the North' awaits."

Paige took a glance at Alex, her eyes filled with sadness. She quickly covered it up and looked at the menu, "Yeah, definitely."

"Definitely," echoed Marco.

Returning from the bathroom, Dylan plopped onto the seat beside Marco.

"Ready to order?" Spinner questioned.

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After spending some time at The Dot, Paige drove her brother and Marco to the house and dropped them off. She knew the couple had plans for the rest of their last day together. The blonde turned her head to the girl seating in the passenger's seat. "Thanks for much needed help today," she whispered.

A few moments passed, till Alex met Paige's eyes and shrugged, "You gonna take me home?"

"I was actually thinking that maybe we could hang out?"

The raven haired girl nodded and the asked hesitantly, "You want to… I don't know… go to the mall?"

After graduation the girls had spent some time together, becoming friends again, but for some reason never went to the mall with each other. Maybe it was because that was where they broke up.

"Uh, last time I went there with you, I almost got into trouble because of a certain CD being placed into my purse by a certain person," she playfully threw out.

"I'm sorry about that," spoke Alex, her voice low. "It was stupid."

Paige slowly, nodded, "Yeah, well… it's in the past." She bit her lip and began to drive, "So, since it's in the past… the mall it is."

"Maybe we can bug Jay at the theatre. He told me he got a job there," snorted Alex.

Trying not to laugh at the image of Jay in the brown uniform, Paige failed miserably.

Her ex joined along with her in the laughter.

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TBC… and review please?


	2. Chapter 1 prt 2

Thanks for the all feedback, I really appreciate it. 

Disclaimer: I don't own Degrassi or any of it's characters.

Chapter One (Part Two)

"What do you think of this?" Paige asked as she walked out of a dressing room of Wet Seal, wearing a black laced tank top. The blonde looked at the material, "Yes or no?"

Alex turned around from a rack of clothes and eyed the girl in front of her. She lifted a brow, "What are you going for?"

"I don't know… cute?"

The raven haired girl pursed her lips, "Then the answer is no."

"What's wrong with it?" Paige frowned, looking at Alex.

"Nothing, it's just you don't look cute in it."

The blonde's jaw dropped, "Excuse me?"

Smirking, Alex stepped over to her ex and gently closed her mouth with the tips of her fingers. "You don't look cute in it… you look hot and I don't know if it's a word, but you look '_mind-blowingly'_ hot.." Fingers still touching soft skin, it lingered, then pulled away.

Silence made its way between them for a few seconds.

"Thanks," murmured the blonde, her face painted with a light flush. Taking a step back toward the dressing room, she scratched her neck. "I'm gonna go… change." The girl made her way out of Alex's gaze by walking in and shutting the door.

Eyes on the spot Paige had just disappeared to, Alex crossed her arm and for a quick moment, insecurity showed through her dark colored eyes.

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"Out of all the places, you just had to work here?" grinned out Paige, her arms on the counter.

Alex shook her head and watched Jay scoop her popcorn.

The bad-boy rolled his eyes, "I'm guessing that everyone said the same thing to you when you worked in this oh-so lovely theatre."

"Heck yeah," drawled out the blonde. "Anyway, why are you working legit? Shouldn't you be helping some local sleaze peddle drugs?"

Handing the bag filled of popcorn to his ex-girlfriend, Jay glanced at the former Queen-Bee of Degrassi. "I'm trying to see what it's like living by the rules." He punched in a few things on the cash register, "Total comes to four dollars and twenty cents."

Giving him a five, Alex told him to keep the change.

"How's that job at the pet store going?" he asked as he placed the money in it's rightful place.  
"I hate it, but it's way better then when I was here," Alex threw out.

"Um, hello? Can you, young man, stop the chit-chat and get me a drink?" a man complained from behind the two girls.

Paige pulled on Alex's arm, "Come on, we've got a movie to watch."

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She frowned at the screen in the dark theatre. The movie was totally boring. Casting an eye next to her, she caught Paige staring at her. The blonde smiled shyly and she did the same. "Why did we agree on watching Out In the Ocean?" whispered Alex.

"I really don't know," Paige confessed.

"Want to ditch it?"

Without answering, Paige stood up and held out her hand to Alex.

Accepting it, the dark haired teen let her ex lead the way.

TBC… feedback?

I'll have another update tomorrow in the evening or so… if you want?


	3. Chapter 2 Part 1

Wow, I bow (more like curtsey), thank you guys because seriously not many authors get so much feedback in only two chaps. That makes me want to write this when ever I can. Student Council and dance rehearsals are taking up a lot of my time lately, so I'll try my best and post twice a week or so. 

**Kate** - definitely cool beans. Lol.

**Missmiamya** - Don't worry, there'll be some Darco here in there when it's appropriate. :)

**A/N**: I totally forgot to write that the girls had a few shopping bags, but let's just say that they went to the car and put them there before the movie or whatever. Lol, I fix it when I re-edit everything later on after a few more chapters.

**Disclaimer**: Boy, I don't own anything, but my jazz shoes… and my Ipod… my comp… okay, so I own some stuff, but not Degrassi or it's characters. K?

Chapter Two (Part One)

Having left the theatre, the girls decided to wonder around with no particular store in mind. Paige swept a hand through her light colored hair and frowned at a certain thought that had been plaguing her for weeks, maybe even months. "Alex?"

Brown eyes met bluish green. "Yeah, Paige?"

"We'll keep in touch, right?"

Alex scrunched her face in confusion, "What?"

The two stopped their steps and faced each other fully. Paige shrugged, "While I'm away, you know?"

"Paige-" the dark haired girl started, her voiced filled with trepidation.

"That's what close friends do… keeping in touch with one another?"

Alex decided to not reply, her eyes moving away from Paige's and into small dark ones from under one of the many benches that covered the shopping mall. She carefully made her way over and crouched down, her head leaning to the side.

Watching with confusion, Paige shook her head. "What in the world are you looking at?"

Holding a finger up to her lips, Alex signaled her ex to quiet down. Slowly, she took her right hand and stuck it under the bench. Pulling it a back out, she grinned. In her hand, occupied a tiny furry little kitten. It curled up for the warmth of Alex's body heat.

"Is that a rat?"

Alex rolled her eyes at the blonde, "Why the hell would I hold a rat?" She gave the blonde a full view of the baby feline, "I'm pretty sure this guy belongs to Wally's World of Pets."

"How'd he get here?"

"Well, I know that we have a new manager this week. So, accidents and such can happen a lot."

Paige got up more closely to look at the animal and smiled softly. "He's cute… his eyes kind of resembles-"

"I swear to god, you better not say my name."

"Well, I wasn't. I was going to say it kind of resembles you. You're name is nowhere in that sentence."

Alex glared at her.

The other girl tried her best to keep a straight face, but she was just bad at holding hilarious stuff in. Cracking up, Paige took cute kitten and gently pet it. "You need a pet," she worded.

Knowing what Paige was doing, Alex tried to cut it short. "Uh, I don't think so. I can barely take care of myself and my mom… don't need another being to take care of."

The blonde pouted, "But it's just so cute."

"You thought it was a rat, Paige."

"…nuh-uh."

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Alex returned the kitten to Wally's World of Pets, a pouting Paige beside her.

"Stop it."

"Stop what, Alex?" the blonde asked, feigning innocence.

The dark haired girl shook her head, "The whole pouting thing… just stop."

That was Paige's cue to put the pout on full force.

Alex covered eyes and whined, "I'm not falling for it. I'm not going to get that kitten!"

TBC…

Uh… I don't know why I wrote this, but I did. Lol, should Alex give in? Hey, also... give me some ideas on what you want from this story and I'll see If can do it, but still following my plot. :)


	4. Chapter 2 Part 2

Okey-dokey… I plan on trying to update this baby everyday for awhile since I managed to slip in some free-periods till the end of the school year. I apologize for not posting anything for weeks, but again I'll try to change that.

Disclaimer: Degrassi and it's characters are nowhere in the vicinity of being in my possession.

Chapter Two (Part Two)

"What?" Alex asked, her eyes looking out the window of Paige's Explorer as they drove past the third stop sign. There was a few minutes before the sky got completely dark, so the other girl couldn't be blindsided to the signs. "You're going to get a ticket or get us killed… What is wrong with you?"

The blonde stayed quiet.

"Is this about not getting the kitten?"

Flipping the left blinker on, Paige turned onto a street and pulled over to the side. "No, it's not about that." She turned off the engine and pocketed her keys. "When we left the mall, that question I asked started to bug me again. I need to know if we're going to keep in touch, Alex."

Her dark eyes moved away from the window and down at the dashboard in front of her. "Why?"

"Because I care about you," Paige immediately answered.

It was Alex's turn to stay silent. 

"I just want to be able to talk to you on the phone at least once a month and read a few e-mails about whatever from you." The blonde shrugged, "That's all I want. I'm not asking much."

"Again, why? Yeah, you care about me, but what I remember correctly from all the times you talked about going to Banting, you wanted to move on from all of this."

"This?" the girl didn't understand.

"You always acted like you wanted to move on and forget about the people and things here… save for Marco and your family, of course."

Sighing, the blonde shook her head. "That changed. The last few months before graduation changed my perspective on things. I don't ever want to forget the people and friends, or the things I've experienced. That's not a possibility, Alex."

Turning her head to look at Paige, Alex nodded tightly. "I'll try, okay?"

"I'll take whatever I can get," replied the blonde. Ending that conversation, a she opened her car door and got out, closing it. She motioned for her ex to do the same as she stood in front of the SUV. Once Alex was by her side, Paige smiled at the building a few blocks away. "Think you can break us in?"

Alex chuckled a little as she looked at the Degrassi Community School. "What are you planning?"

"Nothing," the girl shrugged. "I just want to walk the halls one last time."

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Sliding her body through the window and into the dark chemistry room, Paige connected eyes with the raven haired girl sitting on one of the tables as she had waited for her. "You already do know that when the school begins in a couple of weeks, security will see us on the cameras, right?" Alex smiled out.

"Yeah, but I doubt they'll charge us with breaking and entering."

"Says the girl who's leaving the city tomorrow."

Paige rolled her eyes, "It's only three hours or so away, so if they do charge us, they can still arrest me."

Alex laughed, "I can't believe we're talking about this." She stood up and went over to one of the doors. Pulling it open, she held it. "Ready?" 


	5. Chapter 3 Part 1

I am absolutely caffeinated with coffee, Red Bull, a few sips of Rock Star and a gulp of SoBe Energy (provided by all of my wonderful friends in Student Council who saw me dozing off b4 first per.) all in about fifteen minutes. Yup, totally up and running without a cape… or is it flying without a cape? I think I have that phrase all wrong, but I guess that's what happens when you have no sleep in you for thirty-two hours and consumed a bunch of hyper-energetic liquids that could probably explode if you threw a match to it. Wow, I'm babbling waaaaay to much. Since I have second period free, I'm writing an update. :)

Disclaimer: Dude, I'm just overly-caffeinated senior in high school. Nowhere near owning a production or whatever.

Chapter Three (Part One)

Her fingers slid against the rows of lockers as she slowly moved through one of the halls she had walked through for almost four years. Bluish-green eyes scanned each and every area it could before she reached the end of that section of the hallway. She smiled at the figure slumped on the floor, head against the wall. "Hey, what are you doing?"

The figure looked over at the blonde and smiled softly, "Just reminiscing to myself. I've had a lot of memories in this particular area."

An eyebrow rose, "Really now?"

"Yup," the answer accompanied a short nod. "All pretty bad 'cept for one."

Sitting next to the dark haired girl, Paige shrugged. "Care to tell me?"

"Which ones?"

Pushing a few strands of hair behind her ears, the blonde bit her bottom lip. "All off them?"

A few moments passed before Alex spoke. "First year here, I was forced out of English with a book of Shakespeare's Sonnets for about two months because I couldn't keep my sarcastic mouth shut." The girl grinned, "Still can't do it, but whatever."

Paige giggled.

"This is also the place where I… sort of broke down. Third period… no one roaming around, all in their classes… just me and the demons that ate away the last string I was clinging to at the time." Alex smiled tightly at her ex as she felt comforting hand on her arm.

"When?" the other girl questioned, her voice soft.

She knew she couldn't confess everything about that at that moment. They both weren't ready, but she could answer that without telling all. "Three weeks after the shooting."

"That was a rough time for everyone."

Alex nodded, but moved on. "This is also the first place that some blonde almost tripped over me." She chuckled at the memory, "What a ditz."

The comforting hand was removed from the raven haired girl's arm, but was smacked with the same hand on the same spot of her arm.

Alex's chuckle turned to a gentle, throaty laugh.

A small smile lifted the corner of Paige's lips, "So, that's the good one?"

"Yeah, I mean… not at the time, but that was just the gateway for us to actually acknowledge one another."

The blonde couldn't disagree.

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Gosh, well… I wonder why Alex broke down? Hmm… updates are welcome! That or caffeine, but I think I want feedback!;) Lol, till tomorrow… good day!


	6. Chapter 3 Part 2

Jeez, I guess had set back cuz I could not log in for about two days or so. So, here I am... posting later than usual.

A/N: The chapter b4 had a lot of mistakes grammar wise, so I'll be editing it later.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything Degrassi related.

Chapter Three (Part Two)

Paige pulled her knees up and hugged them close, laying her head. The hall was almost dark, a small ray of light from the moon coming through a small window. "Out of everything that has happened between us, I'm sort of surprised that we never got physical." Seeing the other girl's face and realizing how that sounded, she corrected herself. "Into a ph-physical fight, I mean…"

Alex closed her eyes and chuckled.

The blonde just watched her and smiled.

Opening her eyes, Alex mimicked her ex's position. Knees up, hugged, and head lain. "If that had ever happened, it would've been… memorable."

"Forever written into the history of Degrassi."

The two laughed, eyes sparkling. Minutes passed by without words. Alex broke it.

"Two for two."

Paige furrowed her brows and frowned in confusion, "What?"

"Two for two. It's a tie. Two good things happened in this spot now."

A soft smile spread across Paige's face, "Both pertaining to me."

The dark haired girl nodded, "Yeah."

"I'm… honored."

Alex snorted playfully, a smack getting her arm again. "What's with you and smacking me today?" she reached over and gently connected the back of her hand with Paige's shoulder.

The other girl's mouth fell open. Regaining composure, the blonde smirked. "You're gonna get it someday."

Alex nodded seriously, then she did the same action before. Hand hitting shoulder. "How about now?" she felt her body shake in laughter as Paige lunged at her, tickling her. Her back hit the floor, the blonde on top of her, full on tickle attacks. "No fair! That's cheating!" she shrieked.

"Nope," Paige replied. She avoided Alex's flaying arms, "No one smacks a Michalchuk and gets away with it!" She laughed as she got the girl in the ribs.

888888 Who would of thought of Paige on top? Lol.


End file.
